Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabe15
Richard, what PGR did you use? How much quicker did the plants flower in your experiment compared to untreated plants? How fast was the response?
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The PGR was a pint sample from a colleague that worked for Abbott. Apparently it is used in aerial spray on row crops to induce uniform flowering. Target crops include brassicas and strawberries.
For the bananas in question at that location it was typically 18 months from new pup in the mat to inflorecence. Hence I learned to select and cull around October for blooming a little over a year later.
My first experiment was on Namwa. March that year was very temperature so I began dosing the mat with 5-50-17. Sure enough it flowered that summer while the other mats did not (as usual) until the following spring. In my recollection the inflorecence produced only about 6 female hands, most of which missing a finger or two, all a bit shorter than usual, and when ripe was basically tasteless -- like some "supermarket" bananas can be.
I tried the following year with the PGR on Brazilian and two years later with a bit of each on Manzano -- both trials with the same result.
A year later (2013) I moved to my present location in NW Vista, CA. The microclimate is a little milder here -- probably zone 10b. The cycle seems shorter here. Pups of most varieties that come up in mid-Spring bloom 10-14 months later. An exception is a Gros Michael I obtained as a TC which is taking a long time to get established.